Pat Toomey: Change Conservatives Can Believe In - Appoint Jeff Flake and Jim DeMint

Senator Mitch McConnell and Rep. John Boehner have a tough two years ahead of them. For the second election cycle in a row, conservative-leaning voters gave the Republican party an ultimatum: Shape up or ship out. And now the leaders of the GOP better deliver if they want 2010 to go any differently. They can start by changing business as usual in the House and Senate.

In the House of Representatives, John Boehner should use his influence and leadership position to appoint Rep. Jeff Flake to the Appropriations Committee. Flake fans may recall the Arizona representative’s pursuit of an appropriations seat nearly a year ago. Though conservatives rallied to Flake’s cause, the House Republican Steering Committee rejected his bid.

This year, the GOP doesn’t have the luxury of choosing the status quo. If the GOP is serious about changing, its members can prove it by giving the most anti-pork congressman in Washington a seat in the heart of the lion’s den.

For years, Rep. Flake has shined a glaring light on Congress’s worst excesses, sponsoring amendments to strip the most outrageous pork projects from the various appropriations bills. Though only one of these amendments has passed to date, they serve a vital purpose in the ongoing fight to broadcast congressional profligacy. These amendments put all congressmen on record in support of or opposed to saving taxpayer money, allowing taxpayers to easily see where their congressmen stand. Flake’s crusade has also inspired over 40 House members to reject earmarks altogether this year. Now, imagine how much more effective Rep. Flake can be with a seat on the Appropriations Committee. In the world of earmarking, the members of the Appropriations Committee hold all the power. They decide who gets what and how much as they write the spending bills. Who better than the anti-pork hero Flake to have a seat — and a vote — at that table?

Rep. Boehner is known for a career of refusing earmarks and he deserves credit for leading by example. He recognizes that the party has been tarnished by its ethical and spending lapses. In a post-mortem op-ed, Boehner recommitted the GOP to “fight vigorously” against “wasteful pork-barrel projects, including taxpayer-funded ‘monuments to me’ and earmarks ‘airdropped’ into bills at the last possible minute to avoid scrutiny.” The best way to do that is to help appoint Flake to the Appropriations Committee.

In the same vein, Senator Mitch McConnell should appoint Senator Jim DeMint to the Senate Finance Committee — one of the most powerful committees with jurisdiction over all tax issues and entitlement programs. With the defeat of New Hampshire Senator John Sununu and Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, at least one Republican seat on the committee will be open for the taking.

Already, Sens. Jim DeMint, Mike Enzi, and George Voinovich have expressed interest in serving on the committee.

With no disrespect to Sens. Enzi and Voinovich, Senator DeMint is exactly the kind of leader the GOP could use at this low point in its history. Not only does DeMint have a business background, he has demonstrated a sophisticated grasp of the country’s tax and entitlement problems. He is one of the few members of Congress to think creatively about solving these problems in a manner that increases personal freedom and prosperity.

He sponsored the Economic Growth Act this year, which would cut the corporate income tax rate to a more competitive level, adjust capital gains for inflation, and reduce the alternative capital gains tax rate for corporations. On Social Security, he has insisted on free-market reforms, sponsoring several bills to create personal Social Security accounts.

Over the next two years, the Senate Finance Committee will tackle such important issues as the Bush tax cuts, the Alternative Minimum Tax, and the looming bankruptcy of Social Security and Medicare. The Democrats will surely push for eliminating the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and raising Social Security taxes. And some Republicans may join the Democrats in pushing this agenda. It is crucial that Republicans have a voice on the committee that can be counted on to lead the fight against these policies. Senator DeMint is that voice.

Filling the first empty seat on the Finance Committee is Senator McConnell’s decision to make, and it will be one of his first decisions as the leader of the Republican Party in 2009. That decision will set the tone for the weeks and months ahead.

Uncle Ben had it right when he said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Both Senator McConnell and Rep. Boehner occupy the highest positions of leadership within the Republican party. Both have acknowledged the need for the Party to recapture the faith of the American people. All the talk about rebuilding the GOP will not amount to a flea on the tail of a dog, if there is no action behind those words. Action can begin with putting limited-government, free-market conservatives like Jeff Flake and Jim DeMint in positions to affect real change.

— Pat Toomey is the president of the Club for Growth.

REP. FLAKE, THERE ARE POWERFUL REASONS FOR NOT TRADING WITH CASTRO
By Jesús J. Chao*
Columnist
La Nueva Cuba
May 11, 2002
________________________________________
When Castro sees American congressman, Jeff Flake, he keeps “laughing day and night” at this valuable and useful idiot who works diligently for him, perhaps without pay, instead of representing the best interest of the American taxpayers and the security of his own country.
Flake maintains that Castro “is not a man who has missed too many meals because of the embargo.” Certainly no, Castro is among the richest heads of state in the world with over 1.5 billion personal fortune.
Cuba can freely trade with the rest of the world, but he starves his people as Stalin did with the Ukrainian peasants. The big problem is that whoever trades with Castro is never paid back. Flake, wants you, American taxpayers, to feed and maintain Castro’s repressive apparatus.
THERE ARE POWERFUL REASONS FOR NOT TRADING WITH CASTRO.
1st.— Cuba is, and has been a terrorist state for 43 years (NOW 48), and counts with advanced chemical, biological and cyberwarfare capabilities aimed against our country. The cooperation between the Cuban regime, Iraq and Iran in the chemical and biological research is well documented.
Just a few days ago the Bush Administration made public their deep concern about Castro’s menace to our security.
A few months before the September 11 attack Castro affirmed at the University of Tehran that their cooperation would put the U.S. down to its knees. That was an ominous threat that materialized on the 9/11 attacks to our country.
Castro plays a central role in the international terrorist network as recognized by the U.S. State Department, with strong nexus with the Islamic terrorism. Right after the attack without even counting with Fidel Castro, Prime Minister Putin dismantled their most important Russian spy and electronic base, which was located in the outskirts of Havana.
Castro went berserk when he found out about it by the media. Did Castro’s partners in the Islamic terrorism gather the necessary intelligence for the success of the attack through Castro’s access to the Russian spy base?
Castro once tried to nuke our cities and he has the means and the will to fulfill his dream of destroying our country.
If we are involved in a worldwide war against terrorism, Cuba at 90 miles from our coast should be a prime target in that war; so, those involved in appeasement policies towards Castro and in the promotion of the lifting of the commercial embargo against Cuba are in fact aiding and abetting our worst enemy.
2nd.— Cuba has defaulted in all its international financial deals and Castro encourages other Third World nations to follow his example. Why are we going to sell to someone without the expectation to ever be repaid. The American taxpayers should be aware that they are the targets of the scam by which the multinationals sell to Castro whatever he needs and we, the taxpayers, end footing the bill. Castro for 42 years has been with commercial ties with over 150 nations. Now when he has exhausted the patience of nations foolish enough to have given him credit. Castro’s puppets in the media, and the Congress in cahoots with some greedy commercial circles are wanting for the American taxpayers to shoulder the heavy burden of subsidizing his regime to the tune of 9 billion dollars annually.
Is not enough the billions of dollars in pork just approved by the Congress for the benefit of ADM and the powerful agriculture lobby? How much blood does Rep. Flake and Castro’s lobbyists want to extract from the overburdened American taxpayers?
3rd.— The American companies can not legally conduct business with Cuba without violating several American laws.
A.- Trading with the Enemy Act.
B.- U.S. Commercial Embargo Against Cuba.
C.- Helms-Burton Law.
D.- Involvement in bribes in commercial dealings with another nation.
Foreign companies must hire the workers through Castro who keeps 96% of their salary for himself and the repressive apparatus.
E.- Involvement in slave labor of foreign workers in connivance with the local authorities. This is another factor necessary to reconcile with. Every deal; every investment in Cuba is a “joint venture” in partnership with the Cuban tyrant, and that includes being part of slave labor practices, for which those entrepreneurs and multinationals, sooner or later, will pay dearly just as it happened with the companies involved in slave labor during the Nazi era. The scam consists that for each worker they employ, the foreign companies must pay Castro $300 to $500 monthly in dollars and the Cuban dictator pays them 500 to 600 worthless Cuban pesos, which is the equivalent of $12 to $20 dollars or 96% bribe, an outrageous bribe without parallel in the world.
That outrageous business practice is in violation of international and American labor laws and will expose those companies to huge law suits for the slave labor exploitation of the Cuban worker in cahoots with the corrupt communist regime.
We have to wonder why there are so many American politicians promoting the violations of our trading laws, and in the process, they are endangering the security of the U.S. Why is the Treasure Department authorizing all those business trips and all kind of conventions in Cuban soil by which American citizens circumvent and break the U.S. laws? Why is Rep. Flake betraying President Bush’s war against terrorism and stabbing the American taxpayers in the back?
As Senator Jesse Helms rightly stated: “Unfortunately, some in Washington are all too willing to give Castro what he wants. At the least they should stop pretending that they are doing this to promote Cuban democracy and American values.

FROM CONGRESSMAN WEB SITE:
Congressman Flake: U.S. Should Not Precondition Change in Cuba Policy on Action By Cuban Government
National Security Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Cuba

Washington, D.C., Apr 29, 2009 - Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, ranking member of the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, today cautioned that a change in U.S. policy toward Cuba should not be preconditioned on action by the Cuban government.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee today examined the national security implications of U.S. policy toward Cuba.

“Our policy toward Cuba has been built on the faulty premise that the Cuban government favors an end to the travel ban and embargo,” said Flake. “Save for their rhetoric, there is little evidence that the Cuban government actually wants such an outcome. In fact, every time relations between the U.S. and Cuba appear to be warming, the Cuban government takes action, whether it be shooting down American planes or jailing dissidents, to ensure that the status quo is maintained.”

“I believe the most effective action the U.S. can take to hasten democratic reforms in Cuba is to loosen trade and travel restrictions. Clearly, the prospect of increasing commerce and contact hasn’t been a very successful carrot, but it might make a pretty effective stick.”

Congressman Flake, along with Congressman Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts, has introduced the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act (H.R. 874). The bill has over 120 cosponsors.

ARE FLAKE AND DELAHUNT BIRDS OF A FEATHER?

Flake: Our Very Own Neville Chamberlain Visits a State-Sponsor of Terror Country

“HMJ, Western Hemisphere Policy Watch” 12/15/2006

“It is because of people like Rep. Jeff Flake that we Republicans lost the majority in 2006; all about “me” and not about what is right, just. It is a pox that the conservative movement must work to undo.”

(From the Banks of the Potomac) We have yet to ascertain what fascinates Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake about Cuba and Fidel Castro. For years he has taken taxpayer-paid junkets to a state sponsor of terror - an ironic thing for a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative. This latest trip to Cuba clearly demonstrates Flake’s callous view of Cuban-Americans or U.S. policy in a post-09/11/01 world.

We single out Flake, and this applies equally to other Republicans, because they should know better. With the Democrats? Well, there are some good ones but not a majority in the U.S. Congress would ever support a hard line position against the Cuban Communist Party (CCP) and the Cuban regime generally.

A few months ago Flake (pictured at the left) and Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Bill Delahunt requested a GAO Audit of U.S./Cuba programs. So far, not too bad. We agree that these programs have to change, but that is just about the only thing we agree on. If you want to read about the GAO audit, we posted several pieces on it (here is one). It is what Flake is now doing with the results of the report that irks WHPW Editors.

Imagine for a moment if during World War II a U.S. Congressman had ordered a study of U.S. efforts to undermine the Nazi regime. Rather than fix problems in the program quietly, so the enemy did not figure it out, this Congressman puts a target on it by releasing a report about how effective that program happened to be. Then, to add some flavor, takes a copy of the report with him to Germany to share with the Nazi high command. Well, that is exactly what Flake and company have done with the Cuba programs.

What do these Congressmen seek to gain by sitting down with the leaders of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP)? The CCP has tortured and murdered American citizens, spies on the U.S. including implanting agents deep in our military (see this link as an example), and work to undermine U.S. interests throughout the Western Hemisphere in a variety of ways. And, this is not even discussing how the CCP treats its people and locks up dissenters in political jails. We doubt this crew will be thinking of any of this as it stays in the Hotel Nacional, sips mojitos with CCP officials, or begs to meet with Raul Castro.

For the first time in decades we have the CCP and the Cuban Armed Forces how we want them: really scared and vulnerable. We have them where we want them. We can and will force them to change before the Cuban people take matters into their own hands and change it for them (with sticks and stones if they have to). And, what do these Congressmen do? Step into this political mosh-pit for a voyeuristic junket, with spouses, to the Cuban gulag! Shame on them.

Early reports from our sources inside-the-beltway indicate that the focus of this trip is designed to reassure the CCP, the FAR, and others in the regime that there are people in the USG that they can work with, to ignore the Cuban-Americans in Miami or the hardliners in Washington. The Democratic Congress and the few Republicans that support them will see to it that policy changes, that the CCP gets to stay in power, and that there will be no negative repercussions for decades of hard line rule. Sad, so sad.

On a bright note, Neville Chamberlain went down in history books as an appeaser and a coward. The cooler and patriotic forces in England prevailed and she was victorious. Freedom seekers always beat out cowards. We know that should be the case here as well. It is because of people like Rep. Jeff Flake that we Republicans lost the majority in 2006; all about “me” and not about what is right, just. It is a pox that the conservative movement must work to undo.

We hope that the Bush Administration’s foreign policy team on this matter will work smart to counteract this propaganda trip. We have the political upper hand. Let’s use it and not squander the political goodwill that we have created with millions of Cubans in Cuba that do not support that system.

Posted by From the Banks of the Potomac ...

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